At this week's Green Party conference we will be putting forward a proposal to adopt Rights of Nature into the Green Party's policies.

Central to this motion are the rights of nature to 'exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, as well as the right to restoration'.

Currently Britain's piecemeal environmental regulations consider nature as an object of commerce within the law, and thus they prevent us from protecting ecosystems in any meaningful sense.

This week, the front pages have been plastered with the news that trillions of dollars have been wiped off global markets, a dramatic shock which has been felt by all the main share indices worldwide.

The significance of these events depends on who you ask: some urge 'optimism', while others predict we may be on the cusp of a new Great Depression, at least as dangerous as the Great Recession of 2008, although different in kind. One thing is certain - we are entering a period of enormous uncertainty.

The 'austerity' issue is very much in the news. In last weekend's Observer, for example, it popped up in several articles.

On the front page a number of economists are quoted as supporting Jeremy Corbyn's "anti-austerity politics".

Inside there is an opinion piece by economics correspondent William Keegan who credits Corbyn for foregrounding the issue and challenging orthodox arguments for government spending cutbacks.

On another page, a "young Labour supporter" explains why she supports Corbyn because of his stance on "Tory austerity".

Like many Greens, I'm a huge fan of Jeremy Corbyn. I'm hoping that he wins the Labour Leadership election – and the latest polling suggests that he will. At the same time, I'm a Green, and without one shred of doubt I'm going to stay a Green. For Corbyn – for all his many virtues – is no Green. For he does not have an ecologistic approach.

Caroline Lucas has today issued a striking public call for a new politics of unity among 'progressives' - among those, that is, who seek at minimum to rein in the excesses of neoliberal 'business as usual', Tory-style.

With less than six months to go before the most wide-open General Election of our time, a true insurgent party is on the rise, and – despite what the media tell you – it’s not the one you are thinking of.